Parents give county schools top marks in a countywide survey conducted late last year.

The Lenawee County Superintendents Association released results of the survey about education in the county on Friday.

The survey was conducted Dec. 3-7 in telephone conversations with 1,060 randomly selected residents in the Lenawee Intermediate School District service area.

The survey was conducted for the superintendents association by independent research firm Banach, Banach & Cassidy of Ray Township in Macomb County. It has a 95 percent confidence level with a plus-or-minus 2.9 percent sampling error.

Among other questions, respondents were asked to grade the school district in which they reside using the traditional “A” through “F” grading scale.

Other questions dealt with the quality of teaching, how well the schools prepare students for careers and college, barriers to attending college and information sources about schools. The survey had 42 questions total.

The data released Friday during a news conference at the William J. Ross Education Service Center were countywide results. Superintendents also received results specific to their districts.

Among parents, 80 percent countywide gave their school district an “A” or “B” for overall performance. Among nonparents, 67 percent gave the district in which they reside an “A” or “B” overall. Just 1.5 percent of parents and 3.3 percent of nonparents gave their districts a failing grade.

Again among parents, 84 percent rated the quality of teaching in their schools “A” or “B,” while 65 percent of nonparents gave those grades.

Just more than three-quarters of parents, 76 percent, gave their districts an “A” or “B” for preparing students for work and career, while 52 percent of nonparents gave those grades. Among parents, 68 percent gave an “A” or “B” for college preparation compared to 57 percent of nonparents.

The top barrier to students getting into college is the cost of college according to 48 percent of parents, while 49 percent of nonparents said the same thing.

The district website was the top source of information about schools among 18 percent of parents, followed by their children (14 percent); school publications (14 percent); and classroom teachers (10 percent).

The top information sources about schools for nonparents were newspapers (29 percent); friends and neighbors (15 percent); school board members (15 percent); students (9 percent); and school publications (9 percent).

Asked whether charter schools were a good idea or not for the county, 22 percent of parents said they are a good idea compared to 68 percent who said they are not a good idea. Among nonparents, 23 percent said charter schools are a good idea while 61 percent said they are not a good idea.

Adrian Public Schools Superintendent Chris Timmis, who is chairman of the superintendents association, said there has been a lot of legislation in the past few years affecting education policy.

Page 2 of 2 - “We needed to get an idea of what our community really feels,” Timmis said about the motivation for the study.

Michael Osborne, superintendent for Hudson Area Schools and Morenci Area Schools, said some of the most helpful information for him came from a question on what people are most interested in at their schools — curriculum led among both parents and nonparents — and where people get their information.

Osborne heads the committee that was responsible for the survey.

Each of the 11 districts in the LISD service area contributed about $2,000 to pay for the study, said Ann Hinsdale-Knisel, community coordinator for LISD.

The survey executive summary, questions and a press release about the survey are available at the LISD website, www.lisd.us.